A/N: I'm sorry it took so long to update... I was just kinda cuaght up in other things... This may be short, but I hope you like it... Derek's POV!
Derek was half-asleep when he heard someone at his door. He turned off the iPod, and wondered who could be awake at this hour other than himself.
"Who is it?" he called out.
"I-it's m-m-me, D-d-derek."
Shit. Casey's crying.
He quickly lifted himself off his bed, and opened his door to a tear streaked Casey. She looked very disheveled, and he guessed that she'd just woken up from a nightmare of some sort. It was obvious that her memory was still lost; otherwise she would have never come to him for help.
He hugged her shoulders, and led her into his darkened room to his bed. Sitting her down, he hugged her properly, her head buried in his chest.
"Shh, shh, it's alright, it's only a dream. I'm here, it's all right. Shh."
She sobbed into his shirt, and he could feel it getting damp from her tears. He felt for her, no matter how unbelievable it sounded. Derek Venturi was feeling empathetic.
He just kept hugging her and telling her it was okay. It was all he could think of to do. No girl had ever come to him like this, except Marti. And he could always calm her down with a few jokes, or falsetto Dereka. She usually forgot about crying when he did that.
He doubted that the jokes would work with Casey. She seemed to be genuinely disturbed by her dream. Her cries had subsided to hiccups, and he slowly loosened his embrace, and laid her down on his bed. In the dark, even with her reddened face and eyes, she looked beautiful. He smiled softly, and played a little with her hair.
"I think it was a memory." This sobered him very quickly. He let go of her hair, and looked her straight in the eye.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," she said in a small voice. Derek waited. If she needed more time, she'd get it.
Another beat passed.
"We were in the car," she began. "And then everything suddenly slowed down, but at the same time everything was going too fast."
She paused again. Derek waited patiently. It was amazing how much patience he actually had. He just had never really had any use for it. Until now.
"Go on," he encouraged. "If you feel like you can continue," he quickly added.
"I could see his face, Derek. I could see the confusion in the poor guy's face! He was so young…"
Derek had heard about the cause of the accident; it had been a drunk driver. The guy had been around their age, and had been killed instantly in the car crash. It was amazing how something so huge could happen in an instant.
And here was Casey, still scared out of her mind from the experience, and yet worried about the guy who caused her condition in the first place. Derek supposed that he was never going to understand a girl like Casey.
"Oh, and the fear etched in his face as he drove into us…" she trailed off, a sob choking her throat.
Derek just wrapped his arms around her shaking form, and made soothing noises until she fell asleep. By then, he had her wrapped in his bed covers, hugging her tightly. Then, with a heavy sigh, he lay beside her and slept.